Lake Silence (The World of the Others #1) by Anne Bishop

Vicky DeVine has just manages to escape a viciously abusive marriage and in the settlement she was granted ownership of the Jumble. A house and a collection of dilapidated cabins on the banks of Lake Silence. A beautiful location for a holiday - but she only owns the cabins. The terra indigene own the land and have set strict rules on how it can be used.

Vicky DeVine, building her new life is learning and adapting quickly to what that means.

But other people have seen her land and all the potential it has - and all the money they can make if they can just get Vicky out of the way… but you ignore the Others at your own peril

This book has a lot of parallels with original The Others series. And I’m torn. Because I do wonder if perhaps there are too many close parallels…?

The protagonist is Vicky Divine. She is a very vulnerable woman who is also inclined to breakdowns. She is threatened by a human force that want to use, abuse and threaten her but she makes connections with the Terra Indigene, the Others, who are willing to protect her. She is acting, in some ways, as a liaison between the Terra Indigene and humanity, her position as landlord of the Jumble, a Terra Indigene settlement/human holiday resort, brings her into close contact with the Others. She’s also being used by the Terra Indigene who want to learn about humanity and what it means to be human. Alongside we have some police desperately trying to stop some foolish humans from provoking the Others into violent retaliation

Which sounds a lot like The Meg… a vulnerable woman who is inclined to breakdowns who was threatened by humans that want to use, abuse and threaten her. She makes connections with the Terra indigene, living in a Terra Indigene settlement,as their liaison with humanity, helping humans coexist with the Others and allowing the Others to learn more about humanity. Along side there were police desperately trying to stop some foolish humans from provoking anti-human genocide (and… kind of failing)

The parallels are… really strong

But is that a problem? I mean, while there are issues, I love The Others series. I really love it. It’s one of my favourite series and Renee and I both looked forward eagerly for the next book of The Meg. This book having many very similar elements to a series I already loved feels like something I SHOULD consider negative but honestly I kind of love it. The Others series is over… it’s gone. But here it is, rising again and the series being very similar feels like a good thing to me.

I love this book. I love the old series. I love Vicky learning about the idiosyncrasies of the Others around her. I love them learning about her. I love the focus on Aggie Crowguard who is so much fun. I love Grimshaw trying to stop something happening that will provoke a lethal response from the Others in the lake and wild country.

There is less focus on the interaction between The Others - Ilya Sanguinati, the main force in the area is far more aware of humanity than Simon Wolfguard was - he’s a lawyer and he even tries to work within human law to fight against those encroaching on Vicky’s land and the wild country. It’s an excellent, exciting and really funny balance between “here is my injunction” and “the fire elemental will turn you to ash.” And it works, it really works. That balance is struck.

Etched in Bone (The Others #5) by Anne Bishop

Humanity has been firmly rebuked by the Others. Towns have been depopulated, bodies have piled up, communication is splintered.

Humanity tries to rebuild in the aftermath and to face the new reality they live in, under new rules and under new restrictions.

And none more so than Lakeside – Meg, Simon et al have built a whole different way for humans and Others to interact and the Elders are curious. What they learn in Lakeside may decide the fate of all humanity.

And the appearance of Cyrus, Monty’s criminal, shiftless brother, risks upending all of that.

The Meg, The Meg is back! We love the Meg. We adore the Meg. This is known!

After last book, the whole land has been mauled by the Others. Humanity has been slaughtered and the conflict that has pretty much defined the last few books has been dramatically changed. The whole Humans First and Last movement is no longer a force to be reckoned with. The Others have revealed their claws and the whole idea of humans rising up and taking the land is now well and truly gone.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of humans who hate the Others – of course there is – but the whole idea of them as an institutional powerful force has slipped. Even the position of local government et al has slipped considerably towards appeasing the Others. Humanity is on survival mode now which makes for a very different tone overall for the books and characters specifically.

This book also carries on the tone of the Others being dangerous. That was always on the cards but as we saw more and more of the Others playing with the Exploding Fluffballs of the female pack, of the crows being endearing and curious – and even, in this book, Meg scolding the Elders for being insufficiently polite (and it’s moments of humour like this that really adds the peak to this book series). But this book not only presents the threat but reminds us that even the friendly, happy Others like Simon and the Crowguard are still vicious, dangerous and willing to eat humans who break the rules. The teeth is back in the series with this book.

The ongoing conflict is how the humans exist in this new Thasia. A world with more shortages, less communication, less trade and generally everything being so much more isolated than it was. It’s interesting how it touches on things like shortages – because that means “famine” or “starvation” to the Terra Indigene, but means “lack of options” to many of the humans. Obviously, The Others are less inclined to be sympathetic towards the idea of a monotonous diet being a terrible hardship (most of them are carnivores with a relative narrow prey selections) while at the same time being indulgent of the Female Pack

And, yes I love the women of the Courtyard. Because though Meg earned her respect and position among the Others with her unique abilities and nature first of all, the other women earned their place through personality, strength, capacity, courage and compassion (and attacking enemies with a teakettle). We also have some really excellent depiction of abusive relationships – but violent and non-physically violent relationships, how words have power and how people can be beaten down so completely in these relationships (and how domestic violence isn’t always between partners). It’s a meaningful and powerful storyline with some excellent characters. I’m also hoping for other women, including the women of the new frontier town, one of which is a police office resisting the sexist assumptions of humanity with the sheer bemusement of the others.

Marked in Flesh (The Others #4) by Anne Bishop

Things now rest on the knife edge, the Humans First and Last Movement is growing in power and popularity, attacking humans who don’t support them and continually provoking the Terra Indegene

And they may have gone too far – and they have no idea what mighty powers they have raised against them

This book is all about surviving, hoping for the best and preparing for the aftermath. It’s not even about trying to make it less bad – it’s past that – it’s all about getting ready to pick up the pieces.Wverything heading to a bad place and everyone is just trying to soften the blow. There’s no doubt here, the worry that has been brewing for several books has reached its peak: it’s too late to stop the disaster, the elder Others have been roused and people are going to die.

The Terra Indegene we know are not unscathed by this. Simon, Henry, Vlad et all are all closely associated with the humans and one of the repeated conflicts they face is the question of how much humanity is allowed to remain. That doesn’t just mean how many humans are allowed to live – but how many human things are allowed to remain, which is a conflict for them as well as there’s a number of human things they themselves want to keep

Which also is a personal question for Simon in particular as well – Terra Indgene are beings that imitate a predator and become more like them (so wolfguard’s ancestors saw wolves and became increasingly wolfish) – as he is more and more involved with humans how much of a human is he becoming?

Which also fits in part of the personal conflict with Meg who has excellent storylines of being the Trailblazer, trying to find a new way of living and surviving for the Cassandra Sangre like herself: trying to use their power to predict the future without it killing them. There’s also the personal story of her connection with Simon. Personally, I don’t think this book needs a romance, and I appreciate, at least, that it has been a very slow burn – but if it is going to be there it’s interesting some of the elements that they’ve added. Meg has been abused – physically emotionally and sexually – by human men; she actually views Simon’s increasing humanity as a threat and a barrier

The conflict facing the human characters is how to convince the ignorant and entitled Humans First and Last Movement demanding more and more from the Others despite the repeated warnings they’ve received. There’s lots of conflict of these humans desperately trying to placate the Others and being victimised themselves for being “Wolf Lovers”. There’s a lot of uncomfortable and difficult moments with the Others, especially the wolves, being furious with humanity for just reasons and these humans being caught in the middle, sympathising while also trying to point out some of them are trying to stop this. It’s messy and has no good ending – which is kind of the underlying theme of this book

All of these is bleak and grim but comes with a nice heavy dose of humour as well which so defines this series. The joyous confusion of the Others trying to understand humanity, especially The Meg. This light, hilariously confusion is an excellent addition to ensure that everything isn’t so grim.

The world building of this series is fascinating and pretty unique. We have a lot of book series out there where the supernatural hides out of fear of the vastness of humanity – but this is one of the few where it is the opposite. The supernatural are vastly powerful who tolerate humanity’s presence. This book also lets us see how this works in different lands with the people of Cel-Romano giving gifts to their “friends in the woods” which is a nice take on old superstitions of leaving gifts out to, for example, the fae and other local supernaturals in different parts of Europe.

Vision in Silver (The Others #3) by Anne Bishop

Tensions flare over Thasia. The Human First and Last Movement is upping their attack – not against the Others, but against humans who work with them. The human pack, the friends and allies the Others have gained in Lakeside are being driven out of human society as the hatred raises to new heights and the rhetoric has become sharper and more heated.

The humans don’t know how close they come to destruction as the elder terra indigene have started paying attention and are looming over them. But the HFL has their own schemes – and they may care little for the wrath of the Others

At the same time the rescued Cassandra Sangue are trying to adapt to the outside world without the limited, sensory deprived homes they’re used to. It’s a steep learning curve and not many of them will survive.

The Meg is back – and that is always a cause for joy for us – and this book is no exception.

I just love this world so much – as we delve more and more into the Others, the terra indigene, animals and elemental forces barely mimicking a shell of humanity. They are mighty beings, incredibly powerful creatures capable of throwing the weather and land itself at the human interlopers (we also have an introduction of the elemental Ocean. Ocean. Yes). They rule the continent of Thasia and, unlike other places in the world (like the human alliance of nations, Cel-Romano), the terra indigene have decided that humans don’t belong on Thasia. They exist there on sufferance – and the humans are rapidly becoming more and more insufferable

But the human reaction also seems very real – in a very depressing fashion. Humans consider themselves persecuted and unfairly treated by the terra indigene because they can’t have everything they want. Them demanding more from the terra indigene and being told no is considered a deep injustice while the terra indigene consider it grossly entitled – and consider humanity’s constant hunger for things they don’t need to be deeply dangerous, wasteful and likely to lead to deep issues in the future.

There’s also the issue that most humans on most of the continent (especially in the main city of Tolund) don’t see the terra indigene very often and don’t have that immediate fear of them – in fact the prejudice drives them away from interacting with them. They don’t realise just how dangerous the terra indigene are and, in very typical arrogance, they assume they will win.

The way the prejudice is depicted is well done as well. No direct movements, few direct attacks against the terra indigene – but attacking humans who are friendly with the terra indigene; an excellent depiction of societal shunning of people who don’t buy into the hatred. There’s also some excellent media spin to venomously attack the terra indigene (which the terra indigene themselves are pretty unable to deal with because they don’t understand the power of these words).

And the whole underlying plot of the Humans First and Last movement is not only very crafty but it is so evocative of how politicians and people in power use prejudice and hatred. They use hatred of the terra indigene and scapegoat the terra indigene to push through their own agenda – and this is so evocative of politicians who constantly push policies through that, for example, disadvantage the poor but then distract with homophobia, racist or anti-immigrant rhetoric. The scapegoating and distraction of hate speech is a long established tactic and I think we saw that done very well in part of a very twisted and crafty scheme.

A Murder of Crows (The Others #2) by Anne Bishop

Meg has built a life for herself among the Others and with Simon – and even has her own human pack. Not that it’s going particularly smoothly, the Others don’t understand the humans, the humans don’t understand the Others and the werewolf Simon has no idea why he can sleep in her bed while wearing fur but not as a naked man. They’re all confused – but they’re learning and they’re trying.

The rest of the country, not so much. Tensions between the Others and the humans are reaching new peaks, especially with the new drugs on the market that seem almost designed to help humans kill the Others. Bodies are piling up, human rhetoric is getting more and more extreme – and the Others are becoming more and more impatient.

The tensions need to be defused before the Others finally snap – and more human cities are reduced to body-littered wastelands.

To me, what really makes this book beyond it’s excellent and well developed world and it’s exciting and engaging story is the characterisation. The way these characters interact and engage with each other is what truly makes the books. Simon’s constant confusion around Meg and her new developed human pack (the Exploding Fluffballs) and the whole community of Others all trying to understand these Humans-Who-Are-Not-Food is delightful to see and adds so much to the world. I have an incredible sense of how the Other culture works, how the different creatures work from the alien Elementals to the fun Crows to the Savage Wolves and the enigmatic Sanguinati  by watching how they navigate around these confusing humans. This book also takes a step in showing how really weird Lakeside is, with the close relationship between humans and Others and adds another sense of how even these confused Others are super-well informed compared to most

But we also see Meg and her own confusion not just with the Others but humanity in general. The more we learn of her story, how the Blood Prophets are abused and kept in captivity, how insulated they are, the stranger and more incredible Meg seems. Not because of her super powers or fighting skills – but because she has endured and learned and grown and built her own life despite overwhelming odds. And, if anything, Meg’s incredible achievement pales next to Jean – defiant while helpless, determined to engineer the downfall of her enemies with a willpower that is awe inspiring. On a much lesser scale, we see the Exploding Fluffballs proving their worth and determination and intelligence over and over again (even if we do have the Others calling periods “female craziness” which does Not Amuse them).

And we have female Others being dangerous and powerful – just so that all this female strength isn’t just the ability to endure and be crafty; in fact Tess is probably the most powerful Other there, excepting the Elementals who, again, are female and terrifying.

And this is definitely a romance I’m enjoying – long, slow burn, full of denial and cluelessness on both parts with lots of very reasonable confusion and cuteness. It really works.

Written in Red (The Others #1) by Anne Bishop

The Others rule the world; werewolves, vampires and more police the humans – and if the humans break the rules, the Elementals let rip. Entire cities have been wiped off the map when the Others have felt humans have stepped over the line. Humanity lives in a precious balance, maintained only by placating the Others

Meg is human and a fugitive. Hunted for her unique abilities she finds refuge in the one place humans have to tread carefully – a Courtyard, an Other’s community. Settling into the role as human Liaison she has a lot to learn from her sheltered life while she and Simon, the community leader, try to work together and she learns how to live with the savage and strange Others

But the ones hunting Meg are willing to risk everything to get her back – including the apocalyptic wrath of the Others

This is going to be one of those reviews where I keep having to come back to it to describe something else that is awesome, like a kind of highly excited monkey with attention deficit disorder – all the while smiling that very silly wide grin I get when a book turned out to be unexpectedly awesome

And it was, awesome – in so many ways.

Firstly, the concept. There are many books out there with mankind and the supernatural at war. Many with the supernatural hiding from mankind. Many with the supernatural being seen as dark and evil or scary. But this is the first book I’ve read where the supernatural unabashedly rules mankind! The Others control the world, humanity exists on sufferance. If humanity screws up, it gets eaten. If humanity hurts the Others, they get exterminated. If humanity is too much of a nuisance, they will be rendered extinct. The Others more than have the power to do it. The Others are also more than willing to do it – and humanity knows this.

This creates a fascinatingly unique world with appeasement as a constant worry for humanity. It’s reflected in the Others as well – humans are meat to them. Food. An irritant. Several times it seems they’re looking for an excuse and they definitely have little to no compassion for humanity and no tolerance or mercy for any who break their rules. They’re ruthless, they’re lethal, they’re terrifying – and the idea of them being romantic is pretty laughable. The whole world is dark, always on the edge of massive destruction with a constant pall of fear cast over everything.

Over this excellent new world we have some truly awesome characters – including making savage monsters thoroughly likeable, immensely relatable and great fun. While at the same time never losing sight of the fact they ARE savage monsters who are happy to wipe out entire cities if they are suitably provoked.